Page 175 of The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating

She exhaled, pulling her hand from mine. “They’re from the stabilization enchantment yesterday,” she admitted. “You had that... episode, and you grabbed me. I couldn’t get free.”

Memory crashed through me. It had felt like some ancient presence erupted from nowhere, ransacking my thoughts. I must have clamped down on her in my desperation.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. The words felt pathetically inadequate. “I didn’t realize?—”

“It’s fine,” she said, cutting off my apology. “I know you didn’t mean it.”

Fine or not, I hated seeing those bruises. They were my fault, accidental or not. I moved to cast a healing spark, but she backed away, out of reach.

“Don’t waste your strength,” she insisted. She waved a hand in a vague gesture to indicate the sprawl of my summoned shadow warriors patrolling the forest below the citadel. “You’ve got enough magical burdens right now.”

She wasn’t entirely wrong. Keeping sixty shadow warriors in existence took a toll, and my runes hadn’t settled to normal after Solandris. Still, being told not to bother only sharpened my sense of guilt and mild bitterness at my own limitations.

I cleared my throat. “The citadel’s defenses did receive a boost during that stabilization enchantment. The shadows are just an extra measure.”

Arabella’s look of skepticism felt like a physical jab. “At what cost to you?”

I shrugged, hoping to dismiss it. “I’ve certainly endured worse.” It was the truth, though the ache in my bones could have argued otherwise. My pride would never let me admit that out loud. “Once our entanglement ends, I plan to inspect the garrisons in person.”

She angled her head to study me. “You still fight on the front lines yourself?”

I nodded once, short and certain. “I’m not the kind of warlord who hides behind an army.”

Arabella’s eyes flicked over me, measuring my words. “I guess I knew that.”

Overhead, Nyx let out a keening screech that pulled our gazes skyward. She spiraled downward in a graceful corkscrew, wings slashing the air in rhythmic beats. Curls of heat shimmered around her scaled hide when she finally touched down. She folded those massive wings carefully, and Arabella reached out, stroking the dragon’s snout.

“She’s getting better at landings,” Arabella remarked with subdued pride.

Even in my darkest mood, I felt a flicker of pleasure watching Nyx respond to Arabella’s gentle hand.

Stepping away from the stable, Arabella turned toward me. She kept one hand on Nyx’s muzzle, but her gaze was fixed on my face. “During the Syndicate’s visit,” she began, “you said something that’s been rattling in my head.”

I tensed. The Syndicate’s visit had exposed more than I’d intended, thanks to Zaraiah’s calculated barbs. “Did I?”

“‘All’s fair in love and war,” Arabella said. “Tell me what you meant.”

I exhaled slowly. “It’s a common enough saying.”

“You don’t do common, Kazimir. You measure every word.”

I attempted a smirk. “I’ve been known to indulge in a bit of poetic flair.”

She snorted, clearly unimpressed. Her intensity wrapped around us, urging a raw confession I didn’t want to out myself with. My heart hammered in protest. I did the only thing I could think of to break through her tension—close the distance and press my mouth to hers in a fierce, immediate kiss.

For an instant, she stiffened beneath my touch; then her lips softened, melding to mine. My arms slid around her waist, pulling her firmly against me. I felt the pent-up worry, the anger, the uncertain heartbreak all melt into that kiss. The entire realm could have burned around us for all I cared. I just wanted her warm lips and her body against mine.

When we finally broke apart, Arabella stared at me, chest heaving. Her eyes glowed dangerously, and for one shining heartbeat, everything else disappeared.

Nyx’s sudden hiss yanked us back to reality. She craned her long neck toward the main citadel, nostrils flaring.

At the same time, a chill threaded through me. I sensed a shift in Skyspire’s wards, the kind that signaled an emergency. An alarm thrummed at the edge of my awareness, and adrenaline flared in my veins.

“What is it?” Arabella asked, noticing the tension in my stance.

I shook my head sharply. “The citadel’s defenses just triggered.” I grabbed her hand. “We need to get to the Inner Sanctum. Now.”

We sprinted to the nearby lightning bridge and were halfway across when the entire structure went dark beneath us. I felt the surge flicker and vanish underfoot, leaving only sky and a jarring sense of weightlessness.

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